The little ones make the difference

Last night we went out on the afternoon game drive and at last the first summer rains came to Pilanesberg and the insects and amphibians in the Pilanesberg came to life. Dung beetles were spotted, termites were out on their nuptial flight, millipedes all over the road and the very prominent call of the banded rubber frog was present in the early hours of the morning. All of the above mentioned little creatures play a vital role in the functioning of the ecosystem. Dung beetles are responsible for the eradication of all the dung in the reserve and by burying their dung balls they put back vital nutrients and trace elements back into the soil for later consumption by plants and if it wasn’t for dung beetles the entire Africa would be covered up by a meter high dung layer. Termites also play a vital role, they serve as a major food source for a huge variety of animals but also through their feeding habits they put back nutrients in the soil. In general insects are a necessity for all life on earth for example if all the insects in the world would be eradicated, 64% of the remaining animal life would go extinct due to starvation. The insect life on the Pilanesberg is massive and be sure to be on the look out for them on your next stay at Ivory Tree Game lodge. Always remember that real men don’t stand on ants.

Ranger
Gerhard.

Lion vs Leopard

This morning started out brilliantly, as we left the lodge one of our other vehicles called in a sighting of a lioness, TT, and her two cubs. The cubs are about a year and a half old so are already quite big. The lions were about 20 meters off the road in a burnt area, and to make the sighting even better there were two rhino standing in the middle of the road about 40 meters away from the lions. Eventually the lions moved on and obviously the rhino moved in the opposite direction.

After an excited coffee stop we responded to another lion sighting, this one being Noku and her cubs. These cubs however are only a couple of months old. They were on a eland carcass and to our delight there was a big male leopard approaching the kill from the side of a mountain. The leopard took his time as he was very wary of the lioness. Eventually he came within about hundred meters from the lioness when she saw him. He froze in mid stride, there was a standoff for about 5 minutes when the lioness suddenly charged. The leopard immediately ran straight up the mountain to avoid any further attention. The lioness eventually went behind the carcass to digest her meal in the cool shade of a small Beachwood.

To see these big cats interacting is really a privilege that few get to witness, needless to say we were all ecstatic!

Ranger Neill